accepting

“Imagine at your most vulnerable time as a parent, looking at your child’s hospital notes and seeing the words ‘facial features: abnormal.’ Perfection is not dependent on how many chromosomes you have.”

“It all hit me in high school. ‘Why is everyone obsessed with sex?’ It had never occurred to me sex was a huge part of life. Couples would make out in the stairways. Sexually active friends would re-tell their experiences in detail. I was disgusted. My therapist would ask if I was ‘this way’ because of my parents, who didn’t have a good relationship when I was growing up. People think a person, especially a woman, need to have a partner to be happy.”

“The nurses started to really study Lucy. I could hear them say she was ‘really floppy, and was not moving her arms and legs.’ That her arms and legs would flop down to the table when the nurses would pick them up. Finally, she asked if she could speak candidly to us. I still feel those conflicting emotions every now and again, but my grateful and happy feelings far outweigh the fearful or sad ones.”